Ladder bracket construction



March 27, 1962 v. J. WlLKlE 3,026,963

LADDER BRACKET CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb 26, 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORATTORNEY March 27, 1962 v. J. WlLKlE 3,026,963

LADDER BRACKET CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 26, 1959 2 h ts-She t 2 FIG. 5 I8FIG-.6

INVENTOR ztnhfm BY 24am ATTORNEY 3,026,963 LADDER BRACKET CGNSTRUCTIONVernon J. Wilkie, Spring St., Lexington, Mass. Filed Feb. as, 1959, Ser.No. 795,832

1 Claim. (ill. 18293) This invention relates to holding brackets forstaging construction and more particularly to ladder brackets for use inutilizing ladders as staging components and in locating ladders inupright spaced relationship to an exterior wall of a building. In onepreferred form of the invention, the bracket means are employed tosecurea pair of ladders in fixed relation to a vertical wall such as theexterior wall of a building. The ladders, in their upright positions,are separated from one another and positioned so as to constituteportions of a staging structure wherein the ladder rungs of therespective ladders are parallel to one another. In this position, therungs are adapted to receive and support horizontal staging planks orsimilar members in a convenient position to comprise a work platform andto facilitate operations such as house painting, repairs and the like.

It is a chief object of the present invention to provide an improvedbracket construction and to devise a ladder bracket assembly which, whenused in pairs, may be quickly and conveniently engaged and disengagedabout the sides of a ladder member and which may also be detachablysecured to the exterior wall of a building to support the ladder in anydesired position.

arrangement which, when combined with the ladder in an operativeposition, serves to reinforce the holding strength of the ladder rungsin a manner to prevent accidental breaking of rungs and consequentinjury to a workman.

Still another object is to provide a ladder bracket which is ofsimplified construction and inexpensive to manufacture.

These and other objects of the invention will be more fully understoodand appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentof the invention selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing fragmentarily a building exteriorand illustrating a ladder and bracket assembly of the invention attachedto the building in a working position to support a horizontal stagingplank;

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view illustrating furtherdetails of the bracket of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a detailed cross sectional view taken on the line 44 of FIG.2;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of a bracket member removed from theladder; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the bracket structure shown in FIG.5.

The bracket assemblies of the invention are assigned to be used inpairs. The principal parts of one bracket assembly include a pair ofpivoted retaining arms, angle plate means for detachably securing theretaining arms to the exterior wall of a building, and a pair of ladderengaging hooks which are supported on one of the pivoted retaining armsin a novel manner.

Referring to the drawings in greater detail, attention is directed toFIG. 1 wherein numeral 2 denotes the exterior wall of a building 4. Itmay be assumed, for purposes of illustrating one typical application ofthe invention, that the wall .2 is desired to be painted and that, forpurposes of furnishing access to the upper sections of the wall, apainters staging is desired to be erected. For such a purpose, I maycombine one or more pairs of my improved ladder bracket assemblies withtwo ladders 6 and tent "ice

line in the same horizontal planes and are in a position to receive andsupport a staging plank 10. p p In accordance with the invention, Isecure the ladders in the positions noted by means of a pair of bracketassemblies generally denoted by the arrows 12 and 14 in FIGS. 1 and 2.One of these bracket assemblies 12 is illustrated in greater detail inFIG. 3 and as shown therein includes a pair of retaining arms 16 and 18which are pivotally attached to one another by means of a bolt 17 andwing nut 19. When supporting a ladder the arm 16 occurs in an uppermostposition while the arm 18 is in a lowered position. This arrangement isdesigned to provide for the upper arm 16 functioning as a ladder rungreinforcing component, while the lower arm comprises a brace component.The arm 18 is further formed with an elongated slot 20 which providesfor adjusting the arm 18 into desired position of angularity withrespect to the arms 16.

Each of arms 16 and 18 are provided at their free ends with metal angleplates 22 and 24 which are pivoted on pins so that the plates may beswung into varying posi-,

tions of adjustment to fit against the building exterior in any desiredposition of angularity of the arms.

In addition,'the plates are formed with holes which are by turning theangle plates correspondingly, the two arms can be secured in a widerange of positions of adjustment to provide a very rigidly bracedstructure which is highly effective in securing the ladder 6 in anupright position. It is further pointed out that the braced arrangernentdescribed operates to resist any displacement or sideways movement ofthe ladder 6 when properly attached to these side arms 16 and 18. Itwill also be observed that the pivoted arnt arrangement together withthe pivoted holding plate accessories make it possible to attach thearms against angularly intersecting surfaces of a building as at acorner or any other angular conformation of a building surface.

An important feature of the bracket assembly of the invention is a pairof adjustable hook elements which are supported at the upper side of therung reinforcing arm 16 and which are adapted to solidly engage with twoside rail portions of a ladder as illustrated in FIG. 3, and at the sametime to be interlocked with an intervening rung portion. The adjustablehook elements are slidably received through a pair of hooked retainingelements 40 and 42 which are fastened at the upper surface of arm 16 inspaced apart relationship as shown in FIGS. 3, 5 and 6. Each of theseretaining elements is formed With a raised intermediate body portionwhich occurs in spaced relation to an adjacent surface of the ladder todefine a slideway. Through the two slideways thus formed by theretaining elements are supported hook members 44 and 46, in a positionsuch that they extend in the plane of the upper surface of arm 16.

These hook elements 44 and 46 are formed with U- shaped extremitieswhich are preferably designed to fit snugly around the side rails ofladder 6 and to engage over a rung as shown in FIG. 3 and at theiropposite ends, the hook elements are provided with threaded ends forreceiving wing nuts 43 and 50. When tightened, the wing nuts solidlylock the hook elements against the arm 16. As a result of thisinterlocking action and the bracing effect derived from the angled arms18, the use of conventional diagonal bracing may be largely eliminated.

Another important feature of the invention is the protection againstladder rung failure obtained by combin- Patented Mar. 27, 1962.

ing the arm 16 and the U-shaped hook extremities with a ladder rung asshown. It is pointed out that when the hook element engages over aladder rung, the upper surface of arm 16 is automatically located in ahorizontal plane which passes through the uppermost surface of thatparticular rung. As a result, the two opposite ends of a staging plank10 are each supported along two spaced apart bearing points. Thus, thearms 16 at opposite ends of the plank 10 take a great part of a loaddisposed on intermediate portions of the plank 10 and to reinforce theladder rungs so that accidents are avoided. Moreover, the carryingstrength of the plank 10 is increased by having two spaced apartbearings at each end instead of one bearing, and less buckling of theplank will take place. It will be observed that the spacing between thebearings and either end of the plank is determined by the width of thearm 16 which may be varied as desired.

It will also be observed that additional sections of staging may bebuilt up by clamping together additional ladder sections, one aboveanother and then utilizing additional pairs of ladder brackets of theinvention.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have discloseda simplified eflicient means of standing a ladder in an upright positionto constitute a staging component and the ladder is held so as toreceive a staging plank in a highly effective manner.

While I have shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, changes andmodifications may be resorted to in keeping with the scope of theappended claim.

I claim:

A house painters staging construction for use with an exterior verticalwall surface of a building comprising in combination a pair of ladders,each including spaced rail portions and spaced connecting rungs, a pairof transversely disposed ladder brackets located between the two saidladders and arranged substantially at right angles to the vertical wallsurface of said building for supporting the ladders upright in spacedrelation to one another and to the vertical wall surface and in aposition such that the rungs of one of said ladders occurs in parallelrelationship to the rungs of the other ladder, each of said ladderbrackets including an upper supporting arm extending parallel with therungs of the adjacent ladder and beyond the outer rail of the adjacentladder, a lower supporting arm extending diagonally between the outerend of said upper arm at a point beyond the outer rail of the ladder andthe vertical wall surface, said lower diagonal supporting arm lyingimmediately below the upper supporting arm and being formed withelongated slots at its outer end portions, means for solidly securingthe inner extremities of the arms to the vertical wall surface, meansadjustably securing the outer extremities of the respective lowersupporting arms to the upper supporting arms outwardly beyond the outerrail of the ladders, a pair of spaced outwardly facing hook meansadjustably secured to each of said upper supporting arms, each of saidhook means engaging about the adjacent rail portions of the respectiveladders immediately above the adjacent rungs of the ladders, said hookmeans being constructed and arranged to rigidly maintain the uppersurface of said upper supporting arm in a common horizontal plane whichpasses through the uppermost surface of the adjacent ladder rungs of thetwo ladders, a horizontally disposed staging plank having opposite endsthereof resting upon the ladder rung surfaces which lie in said commonhorizontal plane and upon the upper surfaces of the upper supportingarms to provide an elongated work-supporting platform, whereby saidsupporting arms engaging against the undersurface of the staging plankat points between said ladders provide inner auxiliary supporting meanstherefor, and additional hearing supports are provided for the stagingplank by said diagonal supports which engage said plank when the lattersags under load conditions to limit sagging of the plank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS437,934 OBrien Oct. 7, 1890 1,115,559 Mills Nov. 3, 1914 1,830,017Dahlberg Nov. 3, 1931 1,937,608 Tobin Dec. 5, 1933 2,308,142 AllowayJan. 12, 1943 2,503,137 Sloss Apr. 4, 1950 2,663,484 MacPherson Dec. 22,1953

